Review: Hotel Palacio de Santa Paula, Granada (Marriott’s Autograph Collection)

This is our review of Marriott’s Hotel Palacio de Santa Paula in Granada, Spain.

Following our stay at the Sunborn Gibraltar yacht hotel, we arrived by train in Granada for the second leg of our Andalusian Easter trip.

Palacio de Santa Paula is a heritage hotel in Granada’s city centre converted from a former convent. The complex dates back to the 16th century with remains of the original Arab houses even older.

The hotel is located on the wide and leafy Gran Vía de Colón lined with one architectural beauty after another. It is the perfect starting point to explore the city with the cathedral virtually next door.

I love historic hotels and was excited to stay here, although it didn’t quite live up to expectations. We paid cash and the hotel did not know I would be reviewing it.

You can find out more on the hotel website here.

The lobby

First impressions here are great, even when you realise that the ceiling design is actually wallpaper!

The conversion from a convent left lots of original features exposed and integrated in the design, although it is noticeable that the conversion was some time ago (the hotel opened in 2001) and little seems to have been done since.

The reception staff were very friendly and helpful, especially when our Alhambra ticket supplier cancelled our booking and we needed to secure replacements.

The seating area below is part of the lobby. The wall paintings are original and combined with red velvet-covered benches made for a special atmosphere.

Figurines from the former convent were decorating the walls:

The large cobbled inner courtyard looks amazing. There are even a few gravestones left between the cobblestones.

On the ground floor are the restaurant and bar with outside seating in the cloister or the courtyard. It was a shame that it was too chilly for us to sit outside but in the summer months this must be lovely and cool.

There is a large function room which is used for conferences and events and was well used during our stay.

The courtyard is a tranquil oasis and a stark contrast from the buzzy streets outside.

Some rooms are in the front of the building, overlooking the street. Others, like mine, are on the first floor leading off the cloister. It was great to walk out of our room to this view every morning.

Our rooms at Hotel Palacio de Santa Paula

We had two rooms for the family in different parts of the hotel.

I was in a Premium Deluxe room overlooking the courtyard. It was spacious and comfortable with a large twin bed.

It wasn’t perfectly set up. As there was no desk we used the small round table between the armchairs to work. There was only one light switch, which meant hopping out of bed every time!

In order to provide privacy from passing hotel guests the windows had shutters and our room was relatively dark. Maybe at the height of summer this is a cool respite but on a rainy day it felt a bit gloomy inside.

The bathroom is tiled in terracotta and beige with large floor tiles in keeping with the colours of the former convent.

Unfortunately our shampoo (toiletries are from Nuxe, Paris) ran out on the first day and was not refilled until we specifically requested it. The shower temperature swung from boiling to freezing and was difficult to calibrate. On the upside, we had double sinks and the bathroom included a bidet.

Below is the second and smaller courtyard which is accessed via a small passageway from the main one above. It is a lush and green open space.

Our second room was leading off from here on the first floor.

Here we had a Junior Suite. From the entrance there were a few steps down to the sitting room area.

One window in the bedroom overlooked a very narrow street in the old town. The bathroom was identical to the Premium Deluxe room.

The Junior Suite had a special feature – a small private terrace. It was partly covered which meant the chairs remained dry in the rain and would be shaded in the summer months.

Unfortunately we had some issues with this room too. The air conditioning refused to heat the room (it was chilly despite being April) and on the first night sprung a leak, creating a pool of water on the floor. Even when fixed we couldn’t get the room warm.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served in El Claustro restaurant. In the evening this is a well regarded fine dining spot offering Spanish cuisine although we did not eat here.

It is in one of the larger historic rooms and very beautiful.

Here are outside tables in the cloister:

The breakfast is a combination of a small buffet and a la carte. The buffet included local specialities like Jamon Ibérico and Iberian cheeses which made my day. There was also a large honeycomb.

Here is a selection of local pastries:

Here is an example of the cooked items – poached eggs on brioche toast. The poached egg seemed to have lost its egg white but the taste was good.

La Barra El Claustro is the bar of the hotel. It has a great atmosphere with the altar behind the bar and excellent service.

Live music plays on Fridays and Saturdays. During our stay an Irish band was playing one night and a jazz combo the next. It varies from week to week and April would see flamenco and other Spanish guitar music on the following weekends.

Between the large and small courtyards is a cobbled vault to hang out.

The gym is very small and there is also a sauna for guests.

Conclusion

The Hotel Palacio de Santa Paula occupies a great location on an attractive wide street, very close to the major sights in Granada.

The history of the building is fascinating and beautiful in equal measure. The public rooms provide a great atmosphere and the cloisters and courtyards are stunning. Whilst I will be eternally grateful to the staff for saving us from our cancelled Alhambra booking, I did feel the hotel had a general lack of attention to detail.

In terms of pricing, rooms start at around €300 per night for a street view with an extra 10% or so to overlook the internal courtyard and an extra €100 or so for the Junior Suite. Marriott Bonvoy rates are around 40,000 points per night so decent value. Rates are lower in July and August due to the heat.

You can find out more, and book, on the Marriott website here.

What did we do in Granada?

We had two full days planned for Granada with some extra time on the days we arrived and left.

One day was blocked out for the Alhambra, walkable from the hotel in about 25 minutes. Booking tickets is difficult due to restricted numbers (many people find an available date and then build their trip around that) and, as we found, getting around this by booking an ‘organised tour’ on Viator is a recipe for disaster. The secret is the Granada Card (€49) which allows you into the Alhambra and other attractions and is usually still available when Alhambra tickets are sold out.

We wanted a day trip to the Sierra Nevada but preferred not to hire a car. The tourist information office suggested that we take bus 390 to the small town of Güéjar Sierra. From there a lovely path leads along the river and we had an excellent lunch at the charming Restaurante La Fabriquilla (I had goat!).

We decided at short notice to visit a flamenco show and picked the small Palacio Flamenco near our hotel. We were worried that it would be a dubious tourist trap (and the venue has a DIY feel to it) but the performance was exceptional – so intense that we felt quite rattled afterwards!

From Granada we took the train to Seville, arriving on Palm Sunday. It was the start of a week dominated by brotherhood parades which was a captivating spectacle. We stayed at the Hotel Alfonso XIII which Rob reviewed last year (see here, also Marriott Bonvoy) so I won’t cover it again, although the glitches Rob experienced did not reoccur. On our one day out of town we booked a private tour with a guide from ‘Not Just A Tourist’ to the white villages and stunning Ronda, including breakfast at a local village social club. We flew back to London from Seville on British Airways, where we had the entire Club Europe cabin to ourselves!